


Book of Lies

by bjdunkelfuck



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: M/M, a bit of violence??, book of all the lies you've been told au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-02
Updated: 2014-11-02
Packaged: 2018-02-23 15:11:47
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,113
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2552147
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bjdunkelfuck/pseuds/bjdunkelfuck
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ray gets a rather unexpected guest at his door that gives him a book that apparently holds all the lies he's been told. It definitely changed his views on some things.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Book of Lies

**Author's Note:**

  * For [deathbysandblk](https://archiveofourown.org/users/deathbysandblk/gifts).



Ray flopped into his apartment, a loud groan escaping his lips before it became muffled by the couch he’d just dropped his face on. He wasn’t usually one to complain but recording video after video after video into the later hours of the day just exhausted him. He didn’t want to do _anything_ for at least a week. Once he felt he had the energy to, he lifted his head and looked around, noticing that Isaac, his boyfriend, wasn’t home. He shrugged and maneuvered himself onto the couch, grabbing his controller off the coffee table and switching on the XBOX.

Not even five minutes after Ray had started scrolling through his games, the door was knocked on lightly. He groaned and threw his head back in irritation. He thought about just ignoring it when the knocking continued, a little harder this time. He rolled his eyes and tossed his controller onto the couch, hoping that when he opened the door he wouldn’t hear “Do you have time to hear about our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ?” because he would be punching their throat.

When Ray opened the door, his eyes squinted in confusion at his friend standing outside with a thick purple book clutched in his hands. “Michael…?”

Michael looked from his gaze at the wall to Ray’s eyes and he smiled softly, shaking his head, “No, I am not Michael. My name is Karael. I do not have a physical form so you see me as the person you trust the most.”

Ray rose a skeptical eyebrow and looked him over and noticed his irises were bright purple, not the soft brown he was accustomed to and he was wearing a dark purple hoodie, similar to his own Twitch one, but instead of “twitch” written on the front, there was a large white cursive K.

“...Ok?”

He turned the book with his fingers so the front cover shown and tapped it gently with a chewed fingernail. _Book of Lies_ was written in large yellow script on the cover and Ray only became more befuddled. Not-Michael spoke again, his voice softer than he had ever heard Michael’s voice and it creeped him out a little. “The book will explain everything and I realize that you are skeptical, you humans are like that, but please-for your sake and the sake of the ones you care for-read it, the whole thing and understand the lies you have been told.”

He held out the book to him with a gentle smile and Ray hesitantly took it from his grasp. “Thank you… I guess?”

“You are very welcome, Mr. Narvaez. Use it well.” With that, Not-Michael spun on his heel and walked away. As soon as he reached the stairs, he disintegrated into lavender dust and disappeared.

Ray blinked hard several times and shut the door, looking down at the thick book in his hands. He put a hand to his head and rubbed at his temples. Someone must have drugged him at the office or all that work made him hallucinate or _something_ happened that could explain some dude that looked exactly like Michael but was not Michael coming to his door and giving him a book of lies then disappearing into dust. What the hell was happening to him?

He decided he needed to sleep before he did anything because it could have been sleep deprivation that caused him to see that whole thing so he set the book on the coffee table and went to his bedroom.

It took him a few hours of tossing and turning to get to sleep. He eventually did though and when he woke the next morning he silently hoped the book would be gone and it was all some crazy dream. He unraveled his feet from the sheets that were twisted around his ankles and dragged himself to the kitchen, grabbing a CapriSun from the fridge. He looked up and saw Isaac with the thing he’d been dreading actually existing grasped in his hands.

“Isaac?”

He didn’t even look up from the book, “What’s this, babe?”

“Not sure, some guy came by last night and gave it to me.” _That was mostly the truth..._

“Came by?”

“Yeah, you know like a solicitor? He probably wanted to sell something.” _Why am I lying?_

“Huh. Well, the book is fucking empty other than a bunch of random dates and shit.”

Ray walked out of the kitchen and held out his free hand, “Here, let me see it.”

He scoffed but handed it over. Ray set down the now empty packet and flipped it to the first page. The words were written with what looked like a typewriter and were surrounding by purple splashes, like someone had dropped ink on the page.

_Hello, Ray. This is a book of all the lies you have been told. No one else can read the book unless you give them explicit permission so it will look blank to them other than the dates. And before you ask, yes this book records every single lie-the small ones, the big ones, the ones you already knew about, the ones you never knew about, all of them. Most of the time, you are still skeptical so turn to the last page and look at the last lie you have been told. Then ask someone to tell you a lie and the words will form right under the last lie. Hopefully this will convince you. Good luck, Ray._

When he looked at Isaac, he looked confused and irritated, “Why are you just staring at a blank pa-?”

“Tell me a lie.”

“What?”

He turned the pages until he reached the last page of the book and looked at the green writing that read ‘ **October 28 2014- Gavin Free~** _Yeah, Ray I edited the achievement guide._ ’ and grumbled a ‘Goddamnit, Gavin’ under his breath before repeating himself, “Tell. Me. A. Lie.”

“Why?”

“Because I asked you to. You want me to say it in French for you?”

He waved his arms in an exasperated manner, “Fine. You have blond hair.”

He watched as the date was written in black text then Isaac’s name and then _You have blond hair_. He ran his fingers over the freshly written words and hummed. He raised his eyes from the book to the clock and cursed under his breath. “I have to get to the office! We still have shit to record. I’ll see you at six or seven, okay?” He reached up to kiss Isaac’s cheek then dropped his heels to the ground and dashed off to his bedroom, book under his arm.

He swiftly removed his Pokemon pajama pants, the only thing he was wearing other than his boxers, and slipped on a pair of jeans and a ‘Let’s Play!’ t-shirt. He grabbed his bag and shoved the book in it, slinging it over in his shoulder. He hurried out of the room, past Isaac again and out the door when his boyfriend called out to him, “Wait, Ray!”

Ray faced the doorway as Isaac came into view and concern flooded his features, “You’re not… talking to Joel anymore, are you?”

“Joel? Why would I? He- I- there’s no reason to forgive him for what he did. I don’t have any need to talk to him.”

Isaac nodded hesitantly, “Alright, I just worry-”

“You don’t have to, okay? Everything’s fine.”

He just nodded and gave a small wave before closing the door between them. Ray sighed as he turned away to walk down the stairs and out of the apartment complex with a quick hop over the fence.

On his way to work, he couldn’t help but think of Joel and all the problems surrounding him. He knew he shouldn’t even bother thinking about it but he couldn’t help it. He had cared about Joel more than anyone else in the world, he was his best friend and he thought he could trust him with anything. Obviously this was not the case. Joel was the first one to know about Isaac, the first person he dated that was a man. A few weeks later, something terrible that Ray barely believed actually happened.

\---

Ray sat on the couch, the campaign on the newest Call of Duty playing on the screen as he moved his character around to shoot the enemies. He heard a thud against the front door and nearly jumped out of his skin at the sound. He stood up and cautiously opened the door, his eyes widening at the sight before him.

Isaac was leaning heavily against the beige wall of the apartment building, obviously in a severe amount of pain. Ray rushed forward to help him, taking his shoulders to pull him into a standing position and led him into the apartment. Once he shut the door, he faced Isaac and noticed the bruised and bloodied state his boyfriend was in. He had a large black eye that had swollen the eyelid shut, a purpling bruise along the left side of his jaw, cracked teeth and a steady thin stream of blood trailing out of his mouth.

“What happened?” Ray’s eyebrows drew close together in concern as he spoke.

Isaac stumbled back so he could lean on the back of the couch before beginning to explain, “So I went down to the bar because I wanted a quick drink after work-”

“Did you get in a bar fight again? Isaac, I told you-”

“ _ **Ray, shut up!**_ ” Ray’s mouth snapped shut and he looked at the floor. Isaac sighed, “Look, I got in a fight, but it wasn’t a bar fight. It actually… it was Joel.”

The shorter man looked up in surprise, “...Joel? Why would he-? You-I-”

He shook his head, “I don’t know. I saw him and just really didn’t acknowledge him. Next thing I know he’s coming at me and he punched me and I didn’t- I tried to not hurt him, but he-”

“I-I want to talk to him. I don’t- Joel would never do something like this-”

“He did, Ray. You think I did _this_ to myself?!”

“That’s not what I’m saying! I-!”

“Are you telling me you think I’m lying?! Ray, I will-!”

“Isaac, just stop! I’m sorry you got hurt, okay? I don’t know what Joel did, but-”

“He came right up to me in the bar, he fucking planted his fist in my face and I tried to get away but punched me again and again and again. He choked me, Ray! He isn’t as great as you think he is!”

Ray’s face fell at Isaac’s description, “I-I-I’m sorry, Isaac. I’m sorry he did that and I’ll- I don’t think I’m going to talk to him for awhile. Do you need help cleaning up?”

Isaac smiled softly, “Nah, it’s alright. I got it, thanks.”

Ray couldn’t believe that Joel would beat up his boyfriend. He thought he could trust Joel with something like this and now he can’t even think about him without getting upset.

\---

Ten minutes later, Ray was in the office and with Geoff being the only other Achievement Hunter in there, he pulled out the book and opened it up to the last page to look at the last lie, realizing there was another entry under it now.

 **October 29 2014- Isaac McKinley~** _Alright, I just worry_

Ray frowned at the sentence written in charcoal black. Why would the book say that Isaac worrying was a lie? He flipped the pages back and the dates read from two months ago, both pages were filled with black writing. Isaac’s lies.

**August 1 8 2014- Isaac McKinley~** _I don’t know. I saw him and just really didn’t acknowledge him. Next thing I know he’s coming at me and he punched me and I didn’t- I tried to not hurt him, but he-_

 

**August 18 2014- Isaac McKinley~** _He came right up to me in the bar, he fucking planted his fist in my face and I tried to get away but punched me again and again and again. He choked me, Ray! He isn’t as great as you think he is!_

Ray’s grip tightened around the book, his hands trembling violently as he read the two entries over and over until he dropped the book with a loud thud. He wasn’t even going to pretend to be in the least bit skeptical about this, he had a terrible feeling this thing was right. Geoff glanced behind him at the sound and he took his headphones off when saw the _state_ of his friend. “Ray? Are you okay, buddy?”

His fearful eyes met Geoff’s, “Oh god, Geoff. I fucked up so bad. I can’t- I- is Joel here yet? I have to-” he cut himself off with a stuttered intake of breath.

“Joel? Yeah, he’s- he’s always here early, but I thought you guys were-”

“That’s-I-fuck, I have to talk to him right now.” Ray stood abruptly from the desk chair and raced out of the room before Geoff could say another word.

He tried to organize his thoughts as he made his way to Joel’s office, the memory of the vicious argument they had playing through his mind. Eventually he skidded to a halt in the doorway of his office and he felt guilt flood him at the expression on Joel’s face. He looked absolutely awful.

Ray stepped inside a few steps until Joel noticed him. He looked up and the frown he adorned deepened making the Puerto Rican feel even worse. “Um, c-can I talk to you?”

Joel shrugged and answered monotonously, “What, would you like to blame me for something else?”

He winced and rubbed his arm nervously, murmuring “I deserved that.”

Joel stared at him, keeping himself completely silent. Ray chewed on his lip before continuing, “I just- I want to apologize. I didn’t know that Isaac was lying about- about it and I- he seemed convincing with how fucked up he was, but I know you didn’t do it and I’m so, so, so sorry about what I said and did and I-I’m… I want you to forgive me, but you don’t have to after what I said-”

 _“You’re a terrible person, Joel. I can’t_ believe _I ever fucking trusted you! You beat him! You beat Isaac to a fucking pulp! What the fuck is wrong with you?!”_ The memory of Ray’s words tore through Joel like a bullet and he had to close his eyes to keep himself together.

It took several moments for Joel to speak, “How did you find out he lied?”

Ray looked away in embarrassment, “Um, a book.”

He spoke incredulously, “A… book? What does that mean?”

Ray ran a hand through his hair, “I- shit, um- you know what, I’ll just show you, come here.”

Joel watched him walk out of the room with confusion and suspicion. “Ray, I don’t- I don’t understand.”

The younger man sighed, “Look, just wait here.” With that, he turned around and ran down the hall. Joel stared at the empty space and until Ray re-inhabited it with a large book in his hand. He walked over to stand by the seated man and opened the book to a page with randomly placed dates. Ray gave him an expectant look and Joel only stared back.

“What is this supposed to mean?”

Ray looked down at the page then at Joel and back again then mumbled a curse under his breath as he remembered what the front page of the book stated. “No one else can read the book unless you give them explicit permission so it will look blank to them other than the dates.”

He turned to Joel and set the book down so he could grab his shoulders, “Joel. I need you to read these entries. I need you to know how I know, okay?”

Joel gave him a weird look but surprisingly he nodded and grabbed the book. He kept his thumb on the page and closed the book to look at the now-readable title then opened the book and read the page. He stayed silent for an almost unbearable amount of time and Ray was about to speak when the older man looked up at him with a guilt-ridden expression, “I’m sorry.”

“What? Why are you sorry?”

“I did- I hit him, I knocked him around and it-it was me. It was just… for a different reason.”

“Why? Wh-why would you do that?”

“He came up to me at the bar and he started talking shit about you. I tried to ignore him, be the better man or whatever but he-he said something fucking disgusting and I lost it and I tossed him to the ground and kicked him over and over and- I shouldn’t have- I shouldn’t have done that. I-”

A small smile graced Ray’s features, “You were defending my honor.”

Joel blinked at him and after a moment, he rolled his eyes, “Really? That whole thing and you make a joke?”

Ray flopped forward onto Joel, his arms drooped over the older man’s shoulders, “It was only partially a joke. Thank you, Joel,  for standing up to him, hell knows I never could.”

Joel flushed slightly and wrapped one arm around Ray, “You’re welcome and… thank you for believing me.”

Ray pulled back after murmuring a ‘you’re welcome too, asshole.’ into the fabric of his shirt and picked at the skin of his hand before shyly asking, “Could you- you help me break up with Isaac? I don’t think he’s going to take it very well and I need my knight in shining armor to help out.”

Ray heard a soft chuckle and “God, you’re so adorable sometimes.” His eyes widened and his head whipped up to look at him. Joel had a hand clapped over his mouth and nearly mirrored the other man’s surprised expression.

Ray chuckled nervously, “Adorable, huh? You’re not so bad yourself, old man.”

Joel groaned into his palm and moved his fingers to cover his whole face. “I can’t believe I just said that, oh my god.”

Ray let him wallow in embarrassment for a moment before carefully prying his hand off his face and replacing it with his lips in short kiss. “I’m apparently single now, so you want to be my cradle-robber boyfriend?”

Joel cupped Ray’s face and rolled his eyes again, “Yeah, I’ll be your boyfriend, but I’m not a cradle robber, you’re twenty five.”

Ray shrugged, “Yeah, well.”

The taller man pulled Ray’s face forward and kissed his nose before standing. He dropped his hands from his face and placed one in Ray’s. “Let’s go break up with that fucker.”


End file.
